Types of Airplanes

For many people, long-distance flying is a tedious ordeal, not a pleasure. Airplane designers of the future may make flying more comfortable by fitting fewer, big­ger seats, maybe arranged diagonally instead of in rows. Larger airplanes with fewer seats would offer passengers the chance to stretch their legs during the flight. Passengers should be able to surf the Internet on a laptop (Internet access on airlines was approved by the FAA in 2005). They may even be able to order meals and drinks from a virtual flight attendant who pops up onscreen at the click of a button or mouse.

In the twenty-first century, air travel will feature a mix of aircraft types: large- and medium-size, very fast and relatively slow, and some with VSTOL (vertical/short takeoff and landing) capability. There might be a return to

Designs for supersonic aircraft of the future include HyperSoar, a large air­plane flying at Mach 10, or 6,700 miles per hour (10,780 kilometers per hour). A major problem at such hypersonic speeds is heat from fric­tion. HyperSoar is designed to avoid this problem by skipping along the upper edge of the atmosphere, just as a flat rock skims when thrown across a pond. It would climb to 210,000 feet (64,000 meters), then turn off its engine and descend to 105,000 feet (32,000 meters). The engine would be turned back on again, and HyperSoar would skip back up to the fringes of space. It would repeat the process until it landed like a normal airplane.

HyperSoar also could become the first stage of a two-stage launch sys­tem for space satellites.

Fast flight times are still regarded as a key selling point for some new airplanes. Experts are not sure how passengers would react to the skip­ping motion of HyperSoar (it might feel like a giant theme park ride), but the flight would be quick. Allowing for time and distance to take off and land, a HyperSoar flight from Chicago

to Tokyo (just over 6,000 miles, or about 10,000 kilometers) would require twenty-one skips and last 65 to 72 minutes. A cross-country trip from New York City to Los Angeles would need nearly ten skips and be completed in about 35 to 37 minutes.

airships, which have been absent from the skies since the 1930s. Airships are slow, but they give passengers a tranquil view of the scenery below as they glide through the air at around 100 miles per hour (160 kilometers per hour).

Looking farther ahead, the airliner of the future could be a flying wing or blended wing body (BWB). The BWB is a more efficient shape for high-speed flight at altitude. The plane would have no windows. To avoid claustrophobia, passengers would be given a “view”
through artificial windows or on screens of a simulated sky outside. A BWB air­liner could be flying by 2020.